Clouds With Silver Linings
by Roseria Sylvester
Summary: After a Robeast attack that The Voltron Force was too late to stop, a young woman enters their lives and quite possibly changes their lives forever. With every overcast comes a cloud with a silver lining; so is she the Silver lining to their late arrival?
1. Attack on Planet Kyntah

Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron Force or any of the other series in the Voltron universe. Also please read the author's note at the bottom of the chapter to see a surprise disclaimer, since stating it here would be a spoiler!

I only do disclaimers once so please don't bug me if I don't repeat it every freaking chapter. I will however restate a disclaimer if I add something new to the mix.

By the way if anyone wants to be in this story please let me know, I will be happy to add people though please don't wig out at any suggestions I may have for your character. I have plans for this story and don't want to have to change it for your character so if you don't want to accept a few changes, don't bother. I won't suggest anything big, just minor tweaks like maybe age or height or anything that really wouldn't fit with the story (like someone being the new pilot of a lion or something stupid like that).

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

**Attack on Planet Kyntah**

"It doesn't look like there are any more survivors." Said Allura, the pilot of the Blue Lion, as she used her lion to put out fires in the immediate area. They had been searching for almost a day since the Voltron Force arrived on Kyntah yesterday afternoon. So far they had found a handful of survivors that had endured the Robeast attack. Some of them had been trapped inside burning buildings and had to be extracted on foot to avoid structural collapse, while others needed to be pulled from under rubble or have said rubble lifted off of them. Lotor's Robeasts had shown their usual lack of mercy and skill at destruction; it would be several years before Kyntah would be able to stand on it's feet without the aid of Arus or other planets. The team was about to head back to Arus when one last radar sweep of the area showed that there was one more person trapped under a rather large pile of rubble.

"Hey Hunk, gimme a hand here would you?" Asked Pidge, the pilot of the Green Lion, as he and his friend Hunk who piloted the Yellow Lion maneuvered their lions to lift the large fallen section of wall. The rubble pulled away easily and revealed a young woman who lay unconscious underneath a support beam; it had knocked her out, but had also saved her from being crushed by the debris from the building around her. As Hunk and his lion gently lifted the beam off of her, the Green Lion lowered it's head and out of its massive jaws walked it's pilot to retrieve the young woman. Stepping onto the ash covered ground he looked around at what had obviously once been a library. 'What a waste…' he thought to himself as he knelt to pick up a charred book only to have it crumble to ash in his hand. Pidge walked up to the young woman and picked her up gently, holding her bridal style he walked back into his lion and buckled her into the co-pilots seat. All of the lions already needed a thorough cleaning so he didn't think it would be a big deal to have to clean the soot off the seat as well… he and the other pilots were already covered in soot and ash as it was.

"Pidge, Hunk, Allura, you guys ready to head back? The secondary response team can handle finding anyone else now that the fires are out." Said Keith, the pilot of the Black Lion and leader of the Voltron Force. As the team set out for home the fifth member decided to give his opinion of the whole operation,

"If we had gotten here sooner we wouldn't _need _a secondary response team!" Grumbled Lance, the pilot of the Red Lion. While everyone knew he was right, they also understood his anger and felt as he did… because the Robeast responsible had gotten away before they had arrived. With this in mind, the team left the scarred planet Kyntah behind and headed for home on Arus.

**? P.O.V.**

The last thing I remember… was sitting in the library reading. The next thing I knew the ceiling collapsed. So when I opened my eyes I couldn't help but panic, more than expecting to be trapped beneath the rubble. What exactly had happened was a mystery to me, but when I looked around I calmed a little when I realized that I was not going to die trapped like a rat. I was lying on a bed in what looked like a hospital and looking around I noticed a tapestry that hung on the wall near the door. The royal crest of the planet Arus, I had been saved by the Voltron Force! Whatever had called them to my planet must have been more than a collapsed building.

"So your awake! Greetings I am Princess Allura, you are safe here on Arus." Said a woman who at that moment walked into the room to see that I was sitting up and indeed awake. She had hip length blonde hair and blue eyes and wore what I had heard from descriptions to be a Voltron Force uniform that consisted of a black jumpsuit like outfit with the shoulders being the color of the Lion the member in question piloted; Her outfit had blue shoulders which meant that she indeed piloted the Blue Lion. I had never met anyone from another planet before so I was unsure of what I was allowed to say,

"Y-y-yes, um… if I may ask your majesty? Why am I here on Arus, what happened?" I said weakly as I averted my eyes, hearing that some cultures thought it rude to look at anyone royal. She laughed a little,

"While I may be a princess, you can treat me like you would anyone else. And to answer your question… your planet was attacked by one of Lotor's Robeasts. Sadly we did not arrive soon enough to stop it. While a large portion of your people are fine, we could not save them all." Allura said with pain in her voice, hardly ever had I heard of Voltron not arriving in time. Though they could not be blamed, Kyntah was a great distance away from Arus no matter how fast the Voltron Lions could fly.

"I'm sure you did all that you could, I think I can safely speak for the rest of my people when I say: Thank you." I said to Allura with a smile, meaning every word. No matter what lies Sky Marshal Wade tried to spread about the Voltron Force, the people of Kyntah had always thought the best of the team and the lions they piloted. Allura smiled back at me and asked one of the nurses in a nearby office to bring me to the tower briefing room when I was ready to walk.

I stayed in the hospital wing of what I was shocked to hear was the very castle of Arus for the next day and a half. It had been two days since the attack on Kyntah had begun and since awakening I had been informed that Princess Allura had welcomed those of the refugees who were not ready to return into her home. Frankly from what I had been told of where I was found, I didn't really have much to go home to. I had lived in an apartment above the Library, my family owned it and lived next door though I had always felt more at home amongst the books than in the manor. However, upon Princess Allura's previous order a nurse was now guiding me to what Allura had called the tower briefing room. The nurse left me at the door, muttering how she had more important things to do, and I entered the room to see a large circular room with five doors numbered from one to five. In the center of the room was an open space where three teens, two boys and a girl, were using a VR simulator to train. They had to be the Voltron Cadets, though I didn't know their names. Off to the side I noticed other members of the force monitoring the cadets, though only two of them stood in attendance.

"Hey your awake, my names Keith and this is-" Said the one with Black hair and light blue eyes, his uniform had only black so he had to be the pilot of the black lion. He was cut off by his companion,

"Hi there pretty lady, my names Lance… and your name is?" Said the one with red hair and light brown eyes, he wore the same uniform as his friend save for the red shoulders of the red lion pilot as well as a brown leather jacket over his uniform. He held out his hand to me as he pushed his friend out of his way. I chuckled a bit and held out my hand to shake his as Keith silently glared at Lance.

"Thank you for the compliment, my name is Seyleen Amalan; but I prefer to be called Sey. It's nice to meet both of you." I said with a smile. At that moment the Cadets ended their training session and the other three pilots entered the room to greet me.

"So you don't remember what happened directly before or during the attack?" stated Keith after I had told them all of what I remembered last. They all seemed disappointed, but tried hard not to let it show.

"I'm sorry if I'm not very helpful, I really wish I could tell you more." I said with my eyes to the floor. Allura then spoke up,

"Well if you want you can stay here with a few of the other refugees for a while, maybe you will remember more in time? I'll show you to a room where you can get cleaned up." She said as she headed behind me to the door to the hallway. I waved goodbye to the others in the room and followed the princess. We took an elevator down a floor and walked by a few doors that had been personalized. This floor had to be the one belonging to the pilots and cadets. We stopped at the second to last door,

"You can stay in one of the cadet rooms. Larmina, my niece, has had this room to herself until now. If you need anything you can ask her. I'll ask her to lend you some clothes for now; you two look about the same size." Said Allura as we walked into the room. It was a simple room with a small window and a bunk bed set into the wall. There was a table with chairs and a desk against the wall. There was a door at the back of the room that more than likely led to a bathroom. I turned and thanked Allura for letting me stay here and she left with a smile after saying that it was not a big deal. I was happy to hear that I was not a burden to my saviors and with that worry out of the way I had only one thing left on my mind: to take a bath.

I hadn't meant to take an hour long bath, though I think anyone who knew exactly how long I had bathed wouldn't have questioned it; I had to wash my hair at least three times to get all of the soot out. I stepped out of the bath and covered myself with a towel I found among a pile of them under the counter. I wiped the steam off the mirror and was shocked to see the difference. Before my shoulder length hair had looked almost black and now it was back to it's natural amber color. I gazed into my own forest green eyes for a moment, hardly believing I had survived what the Voltron Force had explained to have occurred. I sighed and walked out into the bedroom to find that someone had placed a long light blue dress on my bed. From what I had seen of Larmina, and the fact that this dress looked like it had never been worn, she had been happy to lend this to me. I put it on and it barely brushed the floor, though it was a bit tight around the chest. I may look only about eighteen, but surprisingly I'm actually twenty-two! I could still breathe and move easily so I saw no reason to complain. I turned a little, letting the dress swish around, and marveled at it's beauty. It was a simple light blue dress with a triangle of white reaching from the waist and splaying out to the sides of the bottom front of the dress. The bodice cut up into a choker and was sleeveless, leaving my shoulders and arms bare. Thankfully ,the dress was not backless and connected to the back of the choker. I clasped the choker closed just as someone opened the door.

"Miss Amalan? Dinner is ready." Said a maid, who then told me she had been sent to bring me to the dinning hall where the Voltron force awaited me; apparently they had recognized my last name as that of a Kyntah noble. I really wished they hadn't! I hated being a noble, everyone treated me different because I was the second cousin of the crown princess! As my commoner friends had put it, _whoop-dee-do_! I actually acted more like a commoner than a noble anyway so I preferred to think of myself as one.

The maid opened the door for me and I fought back a grimace, knowing it would be interpreted the wrong way. The members of the Voltron force were seated around the table: Allura at the head of the table, with Keith and Lance on either side. The brown haired pilot of the Green lion, Pidge, sat next to Keith and across from him sat the bulky pilot of the yellow lion, Hunk. Next to Hunk sat Larmina, Allura's niece, and across from her sat the last two cadets Vince and Daniel.

"M-miss Amalan." Stumbled Pidge as I approached the table, he stood and pulled out the chair next to him for me. I couldn't help but smile a little. He was cute, I had to admit, no matter how much I hated being treated like this. The cadets chuckled, and the other pilots cleared their throats to hide theirs. I was about to say thank you, but Allura took my being seated as a signal to speak herself.

"Miss Amalan, when you first arrived I had no idea you were a noble. Why didn't you tell us?" She inquired innocently, she didn't seem mad just curious. I placed my hands on my lap and hung my head, I had been hoping this topic wouldn't come up.

"I… don't like being a noble. It just isn't for me, there's always someone telling you that someone isn't good enough for you to even so much as talk to. And please, everyone just call me Seyleen or preferably Sey." I explained, sad at first but I ended it with a smile; hoping to brighten the mood. With that everyone just smiled kindly and went about starting up conversation around the table, I guess my heritage was nothing special here and not something to debate. I could get to like it here!

After dinner concluded I followed Larmina back to our room where before going to bed I decided to sit in the window sill and gaze at the moon. It was so much larger than Suuh, the moon that orbited Kyntah.

"So… the top bunk is mine so you can have the bottom bunk. You can keep that dress if you want, I have plenty _that _I never look forward to wearing. Any questions?" Stated Larmina as she sat in one of the chairs with her feet on the table. I looked to her and was about shake my head no, when a thought occurred to me.

"Might I borrow something other than dresses? While I am a noble, I do prefer pants." I said making her laugh a little; and so began our little fashion show of sorts. I tried on an outfit similar to the one Larmina wore, but found it to be a bit to stuffy. Next I tired out a combination of shorts and tank tops… the outfit worked but something felt like it was missing. Then I noticed a long skirt that looked more like a wrap… I donned that and got the feeling that this would do very nicely. The tank top was black and silver like the Voltron cadet uniform while the shorts were black, though the wrap reached almost to my ankles and was a pale shade of purple. I did an experimental twirl and found that I really liked the look and feel of the deceptively innocent outfit.

"Why did I never think to combine those… fashion and functionality all in one! I think we will totally get along!" Larmina said as she clapped her hands in a show of appreciation of my fashion sense. Now that I had something picked out that I could wear other than a dress, I yawned and told Larmina that I was going to bed and climbed into the bottom bunk. Today had been full of meeting new people and tomorrow would probably be just as eventful.

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><p>Author's note: ok so people may be wondering where I get the names for things and put simply they are all written in Al Bhed: a language from Final Fantasy! Here's a breakdown of the words used; in the future this will be called "Al Bhed Breakdown" and will be included at the end of every chapter with a new Al Bhed word (which should be almost every chapter):<p>

Kyntah - Pronounced Keen-tah, translates to Garden

Suuh - Pronounced Suh (like "huh" but with an "s" sound), translates to moon.

For now these are the only Al Bhed words, but please keep in mind that I sadly do not own Final Fantasy or the Al Bhed language as that honor goes to the wonderful Square Enix.


	2. Coran, Coran

Ok so this is just an edit, since almost all of this was originally underlined… I try to fix it but my internet won't allow me to save any edits after it's up loaded. So sorry again to anyone who thought this was a new chapter or something!

Also to anyone who wants to be in this story, you can find the required information for your character on my Voltron Force Role play Forum, if you want you can even make your character there and role play with other people who love this awesome series! Just remember: if you don't know how to role play, I am happy to help anyone learn! Either way just copy the list from there and PM me with your filled out info and your request to join, ok?

(Imaginary line of dooooooooooooooom!)

Chapter 2

Coran, Coran

In the control room,

"Alright, we've got a few major developments to unveil for today's science briefing." explained Pidge while moving the floating computer files in front of him as he stood in the center of the circular training room.

"Ah, question. Is this the kind of science that can smash, burn, and or explode things?" asked Lance with a hopeful tone. Pidge reluctantly answered yes. "Eyes on Pidge cadets, this is the good stuff." Lance continued as he turned to look to us with a smile.

"Hey! Its all good stuff!" Pidge replied indignantly. Pidge went about explaining the new weapons that he and Hunk had just finished adding to the lions, and explained that they weren't going to make weapons based on the cadets just yet. However an unexpected craft entering the atmosphere near the castle caught their attention and set off the automated defense systems. After receiving a distress signal however, Pidge disabled the defenses when they realized that the person piloting the craft was the castle advisor Coran! The craft crashed outside on one of the castle terraces and after rescuing Coran from the wreckage the team brought him to the control room. He informed them of Sky Marshal Wade's plans, prompting the pilots to leave the injured Coran in charge of the three cadets while they traveled to Wade's base.

A while later, in a castle hallway, Seyleen's P.O.V.

I was now allowed to walk around the castle, so long as I didn't go anywhere I wasn't supposed to. I was wearing the outfit I had picked out with Larmina's help yesterday and had seen none of the Voltron Force members so far since breakfast. Though at breakfast I had received a couple of compliments and a few blushing glances. Exactly as he had yesterday, Pidge went to pull out the chair for me like a gentleman… though this time Lance beat him to it. I really didn't know why they bothered to do that for me, though it probably had something to do with me being a noble… though if they only knew the whole story. I shook away the memories that threatened to surface; right now was not the time to think about my family's history. I absently turned a corner and found the three cadets talking about finding a secret hideout or clubhouse. I ducked back behind the corner to watch them walk away down the hall. I was fairly bored so I figured watching them search for a hideout would offer at least a little entertainment. I was really surprised the never noticed me as I tracked them to the catacombs. I ran behind them and when I heard them run into something I stopped running and waited to hear what they had found. I listened to Larmina talking to a man called Coran, who then told them it wasn't safe for them to be in the catacombs… but something was off about his voice; it sounded almost metallic.

After the man named Coran scolded the cadets and told them to return to the main castle, Daniel questioned Coran about what he was doing down here when a few hours ago he could barely stay conscious. The other two cadets agreed with him after seemingly remembering this. All seemed calm until I heard what sounded like the cadets being attacked. I acted on impulse and grabbed a fallen candle stand from the floor before dashing out to assist them. I jammed the base of the candle stand onto the floor and used it to vault myself feet first at their attacker. I may not have formal combat training but I did have to fight off bullies from time to time while getting my little brother out of a jam. My attack slammed Coran into the wall but he acted like it was nothing and went to attack Larmina. He knocked her to the ground and angered her, causing her to summon her staff from her voltcom and jab him in the face.

"Seyleen? What are you doing here?" Asked Daniel as he summoned his voltcom claws. I didn't have time to reply as Coran turned his face back to us and we all were shocked to see that his skin had ripped and that underneath it he was nothing more than a robot. The Coran-bot then fired a laser from his hand that each of us but Vince thought quick enough to avoid. It didn't hurt him; but it sending him flying back into the fall behind him seemed to since he didn't get back up, though he looked to be still breathing. I let Larmina and Daniel fight while I checked on Vince, I knelt beside him and checked for a pulse on his neck.

"He's fine, just stunned." I said with a sigh of relief as Vince began to stir after a few moments of motionlessness. Larmina and Daniel wondered who this robot could be after with the pilots gone and realized it must be a "what" that the robot was here for. Vince shook the dizziness from his head and stood, and placed a small computer watch on his wrist and told the others to hold him still. They looked at hi like he was crazy as he jumped the robot from behind and plugged his wrist computer into a node in the back of the robot's head. He was only plugged in for a moment before being shrugged off, but it was evidently enough for Vince to get a reading.

"He's got some kind of bomb, if he plants it in the right detonation spot it can bring down the whole castle!" Vince explained from where he landed belly down on the floor. Upon hearing that we now knew his plan, the robot did a horizontal leg spin, which defiantly could only be done by a robot, that knocked us all back before running off down the hall.

In the confusion, I lost sight of Vince but followed Larmina and Daniel as they pursued the robot.

"I hate robots!" stated Larmina as we ran through the catacombs. Daniel looked back to her, "Really? You know we pilot a giant-" "You know what I mean!" Larmina said with a scowl. I rolled my eyes at their bickering and kept running. We tailed the robot to a large room deep within the catacombs that was no doubt directly under the castle. The robot stopped and shed it's disguise with a few scant pieces remaining.

"The robot IS the bomb!" Larmina realized, "It's getting ready to detonate, GO!" Daniel exclaimed before they jumped into action. Despite my meager weapon, I jumped into the fray without much thought about what I would do. I charged at the robot and swung my candle stand with all my strength, but it blocked my attack and grabbed my weapon. I swung me aside like a rag doll and, like Vince did earlier, I slammed into a nearby wall. I slumped to the floor and blacked out for a moment, but when I came to the robot was under a pile of smoking rubble. "Did it explode?" I asked wearily, using the wall to help myself stand.

"Yeah, but Vince was all like woosh! And surrounded it with stones and it exploded inside the pile!" Daniel explained in an odd way. I smiled and nodded like I understood, but really I didn't understand a word of what he was babbling about.

We gathered in the control room to await the return of the pilots. Though we didn't have to wait long, they rushed in with concern and worry on their faces.

"Hey there, how was your day." said Daniel as he lobbed the robots head to them. The pilots cautiously parted, causing the head to roll onto the floor and stopped eerily at the feet of who I surmised to be the real Coran. He bent to pick it up,

"My that's… unsettling." he said as he examined the tattered remnants of it's disguise at arms length. He then tucked the head under his arm and approached the cadets for introductions. I just stood to the side since I was only a guest and not a member of the Voltron Force. I was about to slip away and head back to the room I shared with Larmina, when a voice drew me back to the conversation.

"Come one Keith, at least give her a chance! You should have seen her! She attacked the robot with a candle stand! A flimsy candle stand! If kicking butt like that isn't Voltron material then what is?" Daniel persuaded, was he trying to get Keith to allow me to be a cadet? Keith ran his hand through his hair in frustration,

"Fine! But we'll test her first. That's if she wants to be a cadet." he sighed before turning to me. I was dumbfounded for a moment, and could only gape stupidly at Keith; though I found it hard not to notice Daniel was giving me a cheesy grin with a double thumbs up behind Keith's back. My mind flashed to my faint memory of the attack on my home, and as I looked to the faces of the friends I had made here since then… I made my decision,

"I… want to be tested. I want to join the Voltron Force." I said with conviction as I walked away from the door to stand proudly before my new friends and hopefully my future teammates. I was then tackle hugged by the three cadets, which caught me off guard but I was able to regain my balance quickly.

"Alright then, we've never really done this kind of thing before so we'll need to think of a way to test you. So for now you can train with the cadets while you wait." Keith said, finishing as he and the other pilots plus Coran walked off to debate how to test me.

I attempted to spar with Larmina, I was able to dodge her for a while until finally she knocked me down with a leg sweep… I swear she was going easy on me. Then I tried sparing with Daniel, he tried to talk me out of it by saying he didn't want to hurt a pretty face but when I surprised him but using the move Larmina had just used on me however… he shut up real fast. I dodged his attacks and even without a weapon I have to say I did okay. We didn't get to finish out fight though, as the door the pilots and Coran had previously exited through opened and they re-entered the room.

"Seyleen Amalan, tomorrow you will undertake the first two of what is to be five tests; one for each Voltron pilot. Each pilot will test you as they choose, your goal will be to obtain their Voltron key from whatever situation they might place you in; be it combat or a series of obstacles, you must pass three of the five tests to become a cadet." Explained Coran as he walked up to me with the pilots in tow. I was both excited and nervous at the same time. Five separate tests? On the bright side it would be a best-three-out-of-five kind of thing. "Lance's challenge will be first, then you may proceed with Allura's, Pidge's, Hunk's, and lastly Keith's challenge. Though for now you should rest." Coran finished with a kind smile, like he knew I was going to need the rest for the busy day that was ahead of me tomorrow. I smiled in return and thanked them all for the chance they were giving me before returning to mine and Larmina's room to go straight to bed.

I awoke later to a knocking at the door. 'did I accidentally lock the door?' I thought sleepily as I got up to open the door for who I thought would be a very irritable Larmina. I didn't expect it to be who it was,

"Pidge? *yawn* What are you doing here at this hour." I asked him; politely covering my yawn with my hand.

"Actually it's not that late. Anyway I wanted to wish you good luck tomorrow, but you left so quickly so… here I am." He said nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked to the side. I smiled,

"Thanks, I'm probably gonna need it! It's nice to know that at least one of the pilots wants me here." I said with a sigh. Pidge smiled and said goodnight, I wished him goodnight in response and returned to bed. However I made sure the door wasn't locked so when it was Larmina at the door she would just come in and not wake me to open the door. I would need every bit of sleep I could get for tomorrow.

(Imaginary line of dooooooooooooooom!)

So… how did I do writing an actual episode? Please tell me! Was everyone in character? Did I make Pidge too socially awkward around a girl? Is anyone looking forward to the challenges in the next chapter? Does anyone have any questions about Sey, her home, or what I'm planning? Any and all input is helpful!

ALSO! I need help coming up with at least two mind puzzles (maximum of three), if anyone can suggest at least one that persons name will be featured with a great big thank you in chapter 4! If you suggest one please give the solution to it if possible. I would prefer to receive these in the form of PMs so please if possible don't post them in reviews!


	3. Cadet Trials

Hello fellow Voltron fans and welcome to chapter three of "Clouds With Silver Linings"! Before we begin with Sey's tests to become a Voltron cadet, I want to give a shout out to my beta reader: PortalWolf! Your input is greatly appreciated. The same goes to everyone and anyone who reviews, without your support this story would probably die out due to my writer's block and "writer's ADD". The more reviews I get the more I'm inspired to write! With this said… on with the story!

Disclaimer: There's a small part in this chapter that I will talk about at the end, so please read the ending disclaimer for exactly what I'm stating is not mine. For those that catch it, I couldn't help but do this idea.

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 3<span>**  
><strong>Cadet Trials<strong>

I woke up this morning feeling more anxious than I ever have before. I swear I nearly vomited at least twice before I even made it to the dining room for breakfast. I sat down in my usual chair with a nervous sigh.

"You alright Sey?" Asked Hunk between mouthfuls of what was called "Fruit Loops"; though whoever wrote the title on the box must not have known how to spell "fruit" since it was spelt with two "o"s instead of "ui"; this oddity of planet Earth only kept my mind off my trials for a few moments before the nausea returned in full force.

"I'm just a little nervous, that's all." I replied shakily, wondering if I should even bother with breakfast and risk vomiting during the trial. I settled for a few slices of toast to ease my stomach and tried to concentrate on my breathing to calm myself. After breakfast, I was guided outside by the team and informed of my first trial.

"Your first test will be an obstacle course designed to test your speed and agility. For added difficulty you must reach the finish before Lance. In each trial you must obtain your challenger's Lion key in order to pass the test. How you must obtain it is dependant on the test given to you; though for this test Lance's Red Lion key is at the top of the VR tower." Explained Keith, as we stood before the tower in question. It comprised of four levels and looked like it was made of the same technology used in the training room.

"Let's hope you can keep up." taunted Lance as he walked off to the starting line. I was a bit taken aback, but followed him to the base of the tower none the less. Standing underneath the tower, I could see how we were expected to ascend to the first floor. A pair of scaling ropes that hung at least 15 feet into the air would be the only way to reach the rest of the trial. After a moment of waiting, a buzzer went off signaling that the trial had begun. Lance and I dashed to the ropes and began our ascent. By the time I reached the top of the rope, Lance was out of view. I stepped onto the platform and took a moment to look around for the next segment of the trial. I turned around to see Lance already traversing what appeared to be a series of crisscrossing bars. I started after him and wondered how I could catch up, as I slowly ambled over and under the bars. I stopped for a moment and watched how Lance was proceeding; he was mostly concentrating on moving forward and only going over a bar when he couldn't quickly go under. I took a deep breath and did my best to mimic his movements and actually seemed to gain ground and slowly started to catch up to Lance. After making it through the bars, I followed Lance up the winding stairs to the next floor.

After reaching the third floor I watched Lance vaulting onto a series of short walls. I hauled myself onto the first of the short walls. I would need to jump to the next few walls but the others would require me to jump and climb my way up to the next floor. I followed closely behind Lance through out the segment of the trial. I was neck and neck with Lance as we vaulted up onto the last wall, and just as I was about to turn and climb onto the next level my foot slipped. I fell back and nearly fell off the tower were it not for someone grabbing my hand.

"Need a hand miss?" asked Lance with a smile that seemed to hide a sneer. Though he held my hand, my feet were dangling as I tried to regain my footing on the wall; Lance scoffed and let go, and I barely had time to grab the edge of the next platform. That jerk didn't seem to like me much and didn't seem to want me on the team. I was now even more motivated to pass the challenges now just to spite Lance. I pulled myself onto the platform and jumped to my feet, ready for the next part of the test. As expected Lance was ahead of me by a few feet. I looked out across what I had thought would be a large platform, but found that I was looking out across a large open area. From the ceiling hung two bars, from one of which Lance was currently shimming across to the other end. I jumped up and grabbed hold of the other bar and proceeded after him. I lost sight of Lance once he began his ascent to the next floor, but glimpsed him one last time as he stepped onto the platform once I began climbing up the bar. I made it to the top and was disappointed to find Lance leaning against a pedestal with the Red Lion key in hand.

"Nice try little lady, you're fast… but not fast enough." said Lance as he taunted me, I tried hard to ignore him but couldn't help but get a little bit angry. I was about to utter a comeback, but was caught off guard by the sections of the platform we stood on began to descend back to the ground.

I had failed the first trial, but hopefully I could do better at the next. After we toughed down on the ground, Lance began to walk off as Allura approached.

"For your second test, you must traverse another obstacle course. You must prove you can be patient and keep a cool head even in dire situations." she explained as the tower that once stood reformed into a one floor course beside me. I turned and was told I could begin. I walked up a set of steps onto the VR generated platform and looked to the first segment of this trial. Before me was a thin balance beam-like path that was winding like a snake. It would require slow progress, but it would be better than going too fast and falling; even if it was only about a foot off the ground, it would result in instant failure. I stepped onto the beam and the timer began. I would have 6 minutes to finish the entire course. I finished the first segment within little over a minute and after going around a wall was face to face with the next segment. This part was a little scarier than the previous… this part required me to avoid being hit by three massive swinging hammers as I progressed to the other side. I had around 5 minutes left on the clock and took a moment to think about the rhythm of the hammers. One…two…three…pause… and repeat. The hammers swung to the rhythm of the basic waltz. For one person this could be tricky but it was a short path so it could be done. I assumed the starting stance as if I had a dance partner and spun my way past the first hammer, paused then did the same through the second and third. With that segment finished I had about 3 minutes left on the clock. I quickly moved around another wall to see the final segment, the goal easily visible at the end. I didn't see any kind of obstacle in my way, but knew better than to think Allura would have planned this trial to be that easy. The moment I stepped onto the two foot wide path to the pedestal, the entire path broke apart into small floating sections; some stationary while others moved. I had less than three minutes to examine the movements of the new platforms that hardly seemed to stay in one place for long. From where I stood I could easily reach one stationary platform as well as two platforms that moved to and away from me. I settled for the stationary one and jumped, landing steadily and looked to the clock; I had about 2 minutes to finish and would need to pick up the pace. I hopped from platform to platform until I was almost there with around a minute remaining, though I was hesitant to make the leap from where I currently was or risk falling from one of the moving platforms closer to the goal. As the seconds ticked by I needed to make a choice; jump from here and risk injury during my landing or risk missing the other platform completely. The clock ticked to fifty seconds remaining and I now only had one choice; I had to jump the distance. I braced myself for impact and rolled across the finish platform and into the pedestal. I reached up and grabbed the Blue Lion key with less than thirty seconds remaining on the clock.

I walked back to the team and returned the key to Allura, and it seemed like the only person who wasn't happy I had passed at least one test so far was Lance.

"Next is Pidge's challenge. Being a member of the Voltron Force isn't all about fighting some times you will need to use your head to resolve the situation. This challenge will be a little different from the others, you will need to complete at least two out of three tests to finish." Explained Keith as Pidge recalibrated the portable VR system for his challenge. I had expected something large, like a maze of some kind I was surprised to see something as simple as three small posts; the left most of which held 6 disks that decreased in size as they stacked up the post from the ground.

"This test is a fairly old way of gauging someone's IQ back on Earth, it's a game called Towers of Hanoi and the object of it is to move all the disks from the left most post to the right most in the least number of moves as possible without stacking a larger disk on top of a smaller one. Six disks is the most common breaking point for most players; making it a formidable challenge, but not impossible. There is no time limit and you are only required to beat the puzzle in as few moves as you possibly can." Explained Pidge after seeing my surprised face. Hesitantly I approached the puzzle and thought for a moment about how to go about the task. It took me about ten minutes to solve the puzzle, but I finally did it in 31 moves if I counted correctly. "Not bad Sey! 31 moves is a bit much but you still solved it. Your next test is a number combination puzzle." Pidge announced as soon as I finished the puzzle. He pressed a button on the VR system and the system reformatted into a screen with a 3x3 grid and inside each grid section was a smaller 3x3 grid. In some of the grid squares, numbers were already present. "This puzzle requires that you place numbers one through nine in each of the nine quadrants. The catch is that you can only place one of each number in any given row or column at any given time. Once again there is no time limit and you can give up at any time." he continued after giving me a moment to look over my next test. I was less than ready for this… and after about twenty minutes of failure I had no choice but to raise the proverbial white flag for this test. I sighed in defeat and hoped the next test would be something easier. "So the score is one-to-one, well I had hoped you wouldn't need to take the last of my tests but I guess I have no choice. Your last test is, in a manner of speaking, applying your mental skill to combat. Out thinking your opponent can often turn the tables faster than brute strength; for those of us like you and I who aren't tall like Lance and Keith or really strong like Hunk, our wits are often the best weapon we've got besides our voltcoms when out of the pilot's seat." Explained Pidge as he pressed a button on the VR system again. I thought he was going to reformat the system again but the screen that was once there had now vanished completely; he had turned it off. "The best place to test your combat resourcefulness is somewhere with a lot of random objects and places to hide… namely the catacombs." He continued as he motioned towards the castle. The group the progressed back to the castle and split up once we were indoors. Pidge and I headed for the catacombs while the others headed for the castle surveillance room where they could monitor the test no matter where we went.

Together we walked silently down the corridors to the catacombs and down the main path, though we soon reached a fork were we then stopped,

"Here's the deal, you have catacombs we to cleverly avoid capture for three hours. Simply running away the whole time will result in failing the test. However if you can manage to trap me in the process of escaping, you will win automatically. Good luck!" Pidge explained one last time before dashing off down the hall. I supposed I was to take the opposite route, and after a few minutes of walking I began to feel like I was being watched by more than just the team in the control room. I began to walk a little more cautiously, wary of the ceiling; I had heard from Larmina that Pidge was supposedly descended from ninjas and was not willing to take a chance he might "drop in". Though as I observed the ceiling I forgot about the floor and soon felt a small pressure against my lower leg and I looked down to see a thin and barely visible wire.

"Tysh ed!" I said aloud, slipping into Kynthan. I froze for a moment and weighed my options: since this was only a test there was no way the trap was lethal… but then again it could cost me the challenge altogether if I let it go off. Based on the fact that the existing pressure hadn't triggered the trap meant that it was probably a "Break wire" trap so I slowly backed up and let the wire return to its original place. I tensed for a moment and waited for something to happen… nothing did. I sighed in relief and stepped over the wire.

"Wow you know your traps! How did you know it was a break wire?" Said a voice from down the hall, obviously Pidge had found a path around me.

"I friend of mine's dad is a trapper. I went trapping with them a couple times." I said as I continued down the hall and turned the corner to see Pidge was no where to be found. I was stunned… he was definitely a ninja.

I continued walking down the corridor and thought about what I could do to end this quickly. Pidge had vanished from the hallway in less than a minute so I would probably need to trap him before he could trap me. As I contemplated how I could trap a ninja, I looked around for a moment and realized I had walked into a large antechamber. I sat down against a nearby stone coffin and sighed as I leaned my head against the cold stone. I had been walking through these musty halls for what felt like at least an hour and still had no idea how to finish this trial quickly. As I stood up to keep walking I got something some would call "a nagging feeling" and found the feeling to be right when I received a swift kick from behind and skidded across the floor.

"Sorry about that but you let your guard down. So you gonna try and get pay back or are you just gonna let me catch you and end the test?" Said the one and only Pidge as I looked up to see him standing on the stone coffin like he hadn't just kicked me across the room. I grumbled as I stood up and brushed the dust off. I didn't take kindly to behind attacked from behind and looked around for some kind of weapon and found a rusted suit of armor in a nearby corner… complete with sword. I dashed for it and pulled it from the armors hands.

"Not a chance, I want to win this… I WILL win this!" I said with every ounce of resolve I could muster. Pidge smiled and hopped off the coffin,

"Good answer." he replied as he dashed forward with a punch. I dodged and hoped I wouldn't have to used this sword, I wanted to win but I didn't want to hurt Pidge. All I could really do was dodge and hope for the best; but after a while I started to get a little mad. I threw the sword aside and resorted to using what little I knew of Kyntan martial arts. I tried to punch but he easily blocked me, I tried to leg sweep but he hopped over my leg and sent me flying with a round house kick. I smacked into a nearby wall and as I came out of a momentary daze was glad to realize that I hadn't heard any bones crack.

Pidge's P.O.V.

I had kicked Sey into a nearby wall and when she didn't get back up quickly I began to wonder if I had kicked her a little too hard. I walked up to her as she slumped against the wall to see if she was still conscious but when I reached out my hand, her's shot up and grabbed my wrist. I was shocked to say the least as she jumped up and spun me around so my arm was pinned behind my back.

Sey's P.O.V

"Now, who let their guard down again?" I taunted as I unclipped my wrap skirt and managed to tie his hands with it; I had black shorts on underneath so it wasn't a big deal for me to do this. Together we walked out of the catacombs and once we were out I gladly untied Pidge and re-clipped my wrap skirt back were it had been.

"I've got to hand it to you Sey that was pretty sneaky." Pidge said as he held out his hand for me to shake. I returned the gesture as the rest of the team gathered around to inform me of my next challenge.

* * *

><p>Disclaimer: The scene mentioned at the top of the chapter is the swinging hammers in Allura's Test of Patience. This is my take on a scene from the second National Treasure movie, where the heroes have to pass a series of traps by dancing to the beat of the waltz. This idea belongs to the creators of the movie, but it was the best I could do.<p>

The next chapter will finish off Seyleen's trials, will she become a cadet? Or suffer humiliating failure? By the way, WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK OF SEYLEEN? (Sorry for caps lock abuse, this needs to be seen)


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